26 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 22, 1910. 



INSECT NOTES. 



3::25'5?5!^^ 



INSECT PESTS OF COCOA-NUTS. 

 Cocoa-nut cultivation is of considerable importance in 

 the AVe.st Indies, and this importance seems likely to increase. 

 During the past few years, large areas have been 

 planted in cocoa-nuts, and as these young plantations are 

 liable to be visited to a greater or less degree by insect pests, 

 it may not be without 

 interest to the readers 

 of the Afiriculturnl Xems 

 to have a list of the 

 known pests, with sug- 

 gestions for their control. 



Cocoa-nuts are attack- 

 ed by three classes of 

 insect posts: scale insects, 

 white fly, etc., which suck 

 the juice from the leaves; 

 caterpillars which eat the 

 leaves; and borers which 

 tunnel into the stems and 

 leaves.Iii the West Indies. 

 a small white scale, which 

 occurs in enormous num- 

 bers closely packed to- 

 gether on the under side 

 of the leaf, is perhaps the 

 most general in its distri- 

 bution and the most 

 severe in its effect on 

 the tree, of all the cocoa- 

 nut pests. This is the Bourbon scale (A-yjidiotiis 

 iJesfnict07\ Fig. I). The cocoa-nut white fly {Aleij- 

 rodicus cocou, Fig. 2) is a very severe pest. 

 >^chomburgk in his History of Barbados ascribes 

 the loss of the cocoa-nut trees in Barbados to this 

 white fly, at least in very large part; it is a much 

 more severe pest in Barbados than in other 

 West Indian islands. The Bourbon scale, and 

 any other scale that might attack cocoa-nuts 

 may be checked by spraying with the oily 

 ■washes recommended for scales of this kind, and 

 these would also be useful for the white fly. In 





Fig 



COCOA-NDT 



The best method for destroying this insect depends on 

 taking advantage of the preference of the adult female to 

 deposit eggs on dead palm stems, rather than on, or in, living 

 trees, and on [lieces of the stems of palm trees lying on the 

 ground under the growing cocoa-nuts. The adult beetles are 

 attracted to these pieces, and by frequent e.xaminations, many 

 might be captured. If the pieces are left for a short time 

 (four to five weeks), the eggs will be deposited, and the young 

 beetle grubs will be feedii':g inside, and the piece.', with the 



grubs inside, may be 

 destroyed in the most 

 convenient manner. It is- 

 a bad practice, however, 

 to have any parts of 

 palm trees lying about on 

 the ground in cocoa-nut 

 groves long enough for 

 the beetles to complote- 

 their life cycle and 

 emerge to carry on the 

 attack. 



The larger moth borer,. 

 Cast Ilia iicus, is reported 

 as attacking cocoa-nut and 

 otiier palms in Trinidad, 

 and a closely related spec- 

 ies, C'.daeda.lu.<<,ns attack^ 

 ingcocoa-nuts inSurinam. 

 In British Guiana, 

 cocoa-nuts are attacked 

 by a large caterpillar, 

 which is the larva of 

 White Fly. a lepidopterous insect,, 



that has been identified as Brassolis sophorae. 

 This insect has been known for .several years, 

 and in certain instances, the damgae resulting from 

 its attacks has been severe. 



The British Guiana Ga:ette of July 28, 1909,. 



\- contained a report on this insect by Mr. F. A. 



^'^♦•Stockdale, B.A., Government Botanist and Assistant 



Director of Agriculture, in which a general account 



of its appearance and manner of attack are given, 



and suggestions are made for the control of it. 



The caterpillars, when full-grown, are about 



2;'j inches in length. They rest and feed in larg& 



Cuba, the Bourbon scale is controlled by a natural Fi«5. .3. Weevil Bokek colonies, and make nests by tying leaflets together 

 enemy in the form of a small ladybird. Attempts of Su<:;ak-(;ane. with silk, which they spin for the purpose: as niany- 



to introduce into 

 these islands this 

 beneficial insect 

 have, so far, not 

 been successful. 



The large palm 

 veevil {Rhyncopho- 

 rus jmlmarum) is 

 an occasional pest in 

 most localities where 

 coco an u t s are 

 grown. 



This is a large 

 weevil orsnout beetle 

 about 2 inches long, 

 the larvae of which 

 tunnel into the 

 stems of the cocoa- 

 Jiuts. 



Fig. 1. Bourbon Aspidiotus. 



4. (a) Granary, (d) Kice Weevils. 



as several hundred 

 caterpillars may rest 

 in a .single nest, from 

 which they come 

 out at night to 



ifeed. 



The remedy sug- 



^gested is the very 

 simple one of cut- 

 ting out the nesta 

 and killing the 

 caterpillars. A boy 

 or man is sent up 

 the tree to cut dowa 

 leaves o n which 

 nests can be seen, 

 while a man below 

 crushes each nest, 

 as it falls, with 

 a wooden rammer. 



